I’m drawn to poets whose voices are authentic, whose words are as profound as they are unpretentious, like the poem I’m about to share today. Tomatoes is a simple poem by Joy Sullivan reminding us that the best things in life are not things, but the intangible feelings of love, joy, peace, intellect and fellowship that gives us an abiding sense of warmth and meaning. Sullivan conveys this sentiment with restraint and sensuality in a poem that resonates what she terms “tiny tenders” – those little moments in the world where we witness something that can’t be rendered in anything but a poem. She says: “By putting it in a poem, you make it sacred and immortal. A life is filled with thousands of tiny tenders and if you don’t capture them, you lose them.” Amen!

TOMATOES

I waited so long for love
and suddenly, here it is
standing in the garden, hands full
of heirloom hot from the sun.

Soon, we’ll make a supper of them.
Salted slabs between slices of bread.
Your beard silvers. My hips ripen.
The mail piles up.

Phone calls go unanswered. Forgive us;
our mouths are full of tomatoes.
We are so busy
being small and hungry
and alive.

About the Poet

Joy Sullivan received an MA in Poetry from Miami University. Her work is published in numerous journals including the Boxcar Poetry Review and River Heron Review. Sullivan has served as the poet in residence for the Wexner Center for the Arts and has guest-lectured in Stanford University and Florida International University. She is also the founder of Sustenance, a community for helping writers revitalize and nourish their craft.